DePauw University Band Opens 2005-06 Season with Sunday Afternoon Concert

September 28, 2005

September 28, 2005, Greencastle, Ind. - The DePauw University Band and conductor Craig Paré will open the 2005-06 season with a 1 p.m. concert this Sunday, October 2. This event, which is free and open to the public, will take place in Kresge Auditorium of the DePauw Performing Arts Center.

“The music selected for this first concert performance of the year is an eclectic variety of styles and nationalities,” says Paré of the event. “The pieces range from Percy Grainger’s setting of a traditional Scottish folk song to Frank Ticheli’s Cajun folk melodies and Robert Russell Bennett’s traditionally American dance tunes.”

The concert is one of many highlights for Dr. Paré and the DePauw University Band this year. Among them is the ensemble plans to record their sixth compact disc this in April, which will feature DePauw professor Randy Salman as a soloist on a new concerto for clarinet and symphonic band, "Brooklyn Bridge" by composer Michael Daugherty. This effort builds on the critical success of the band’s fifth release, Toccata Festiva. The CD was issued on the Mark Masters label, which is also home to such acclaimed ensembles as the United Sates Marine and Air Force Bands.

The DePauw University Band will also host celebrated conductor and clinician Eugene Migliaro Corporon, director of wind studies at the University of North Texas, for a residency from April 6-8, 2006. “Prior to my appointment to DePauw, Mr. Corporon was my doctoral professor at the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati,” says Paré. “Mr. Corporon is considered to be one of the finest wind conductors and champions of symphonic band literature in the world, and we are fortunate, indeed, to be able to bring this renowned artist, conductor and teacher to campus.”

For its Sunday concert, the band will feature a variety of musical settings and ensemble types. While pieces like Paul Dukas’s "Fanfare from La Peri" and Thomas Stone’s "On Themes by Weber" divide the band into brass and woodwind chamber ensembles, the remainder of the works will showcase the full ensemble’s power. The concert is one of the many events that are taking place as part of DePauw’s Family Weekend.